DEL MAR: San Marcos singer performs at racetrack

Clampitt croons tune by Bing Crosby

By RENEE HAINES - For the North County Times | Wednesday, August 6, 2008 10:12 PM PDT ∞

DEL MAR ---- Bill Clampitt of Lake San Marcos on Wednesday crooned for the Del Mar racetrack crowd, which cheered and raised plastic cups of beer to his solo performance of Bing Crosby's "Where the Turf Meets the Surf."

"I listened to that song 4,500 times a day for two weeks," Clampitt, 88, said about the homework he did to perform Del Mar's theme song, written by the late Crosby, one of the Del Mar Turf Club's famous Hollywood founders.

Chris Bahr, the racetrack's promotions manager, said Clampitt is the oldest participant in the track's daily "Sing with Bing" event introduced to race fans three years ago. The youngest, Bahr said, was a 7-year-old girl.

"We've had a lot of fun with it," Bahr said. He selected Clampitt to sing to the crowds between the fifth and sixth races Wednesday after listening to a CD Clampitt had recorded and sent to him.

Bahr said participants have performed karaoke-style with taped recordings of Crosby's performance of the song or a capella.

Clampitt chose the latter, singing without musical accompaniment in a smooth, clear voice patterned after his favorite crooners from the '40s and '50s, among them Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

Clampitt, a retired furniture refinisher, has been singing for the public since performing at his junior high school and then joining a church choir when he was in high school.

In the 1950's the amateur singer performed on Saturday nights for Long Beach radio station KFOX, said the native of Kansas who grew up in Los Angeles.

It was his performance of "Nevertheless (I'm In Love With You)," a song made famous by the Mills Brothers and Sinatra (and, later, by rocker Rod Stewart), which attracted the attention of the woman who would become his wife.

"I loved to sit and hear him sing that song at the piano," Patti Clampitt said while waiting at the track for his Del Mar debut.

The two were both widowed when they met in Vista, where Patti was living after growing up in Orange County. They married 17 years ago and immediately moved to Lake San Marcos, she said.

Since then, she has been in the audience of her husband's singing performances at Lake San Marcos-area clubs, restaurants and retirement homes and for community service organizations.

Among her favorites from the songs he performs: Sinatra's "That's Life" and Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable."

Bill Clampitt said he practices 45 minutes a day to prepare for his free performances. "I'm still not as good as I want to be," he said.

After singing at Del Mar on Wednesday? "I would do that again," he said with a smile.